http://www.oig.dot.gov/rss.jsp?subject=4 The 10 most recent releases on the U.S. DoT OIG web site related to Disaster Relief Oversight en-US webmaster@oig.dot.gov (OIG Webmaster) http://www.oig.dot.gov/images/dot.gif http://www.oig.dot.gov/rss.jsp?subject=4 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=2095 During the 2005 hurricane season, several storms, most notably Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, caused widespread damage to large parts of the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of the storms, the Office of Inspector General conducted a series of audits and investigations that examined the Departments controls over the relief efforts and made recommendations to improve controls over the financial aspects of providing emergency services. To ensure that the Department is adequately prepared for addressing similar emergencies, we plan to conduct an audit to assess the actions taken by the Department to address OIG recommendations for improving internal controls over DOTs emergency disaster relief efforts. Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=2095 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1971 On February 5, we issued our report on lessons learned from the Departments response to the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. We found that having an emergency transportation services contract in place allowed the Department and its contractor to carry out a strong and rapid response to Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 hurricanes. The disasters also provided lessons about how contracting practices can be improved. We recommended that the Department ensure that administrative fee rates for future emergency contracts are structured appropriately to avoid overpaying when services dramatically increase. Additionally, we recommended use of negotiated profit rates that are appropriate for the types of contracts awarded. The Department agreed with the recommendations. Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1971 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1948 On December 13, we issued our review of FAAs oversight of funds provided to airports to repair damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Overall, we determined that FAA responded quickly and awarded 10 grants totaling nearly $40.5 million to hurricanedamaged airports to assist in their rebuilding efforts. However, FAA planned no heightened oversight of grant fund expenditures. The scope of the damage caused by the hurricanes, and the lack of planning that FAA and the airports were able to do before the grants were awarded, created an increased potential for fraud, waste, and abuse of grant funds.As a result of the concerns identified by our review, in March 2006, FAA took action and issued guidance to enhance its oversight of AIP funding for hurricane repairs. FAA also withdrew 7 of the 10 grants to allow airports time to obtain bids and to permit them to benefit from October 2005 legislation that eliminated requirements for airport matching funds and expanded the type of projects eligible for grant funding. We recommended that FAA develop a plan to verify that its district office personnel are effectively implementing the new guidance requiring grantees to promptly submit more detailed expenditure reports and requiring FAA airport project managers to verify the appropriateness of grant fund expenditures and conduct required site visits to review the progress of airport projects. On December 8, 2006, FAA completed implementation of these recommendations. Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1948 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1887 On September 6, we issued a final report on our audit of MDOTs management of the award of selected Hurricane Katrina emergency repair federalaid contracts. Our audit objectives were to determine whether MDOTs emergency repair contract award processes were consistent with applicable federal and state procurement requirements and whether prices received were fair and reasonable under the emergency conditions that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.Notwithstanding the catastrophic conditions created by Hurricane Katrina, we found that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and MDOT officials worked together to ensure MDOTs emergency repair contract award processes were generally consistent with federal and state procurement requirements. However, we also found that the lack of standard construction contract provisions caused MDOT to award some contracts without the assurance of fair and reasonable prices. Further, FHWA should strengthen its Emergency Relief Manual and the related federal regulations to better assist states in awarding emergency repair contracts. FHWA concurred with our audit report results and recommendations and agreed to take corrective actions to implement both recommendations. Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1887 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1838 On June 30, we issued our audit of internal controls over payments for emergency relief transportation services. We found that better internal controls are needed to ensure that the Government receives the transportation services it pays for. While there were procedures in place for Government personnel at field locations to log trucks and trailers in and out as they arrived and departed, this documentation was not uniformly sent to FAAs Southern Region Emergency Transportation Center and was not used to verify invoices from the contractor. Instead, contracting officers were relying on documentation provided by the contractor to verify that transportation services had been provided as billed. While the documentation offered a level of support for billings, the lack of an independent verification process meant that contracting officers essentially had to rely on contractor documentation to support the contractors invoices. FAA Southern Region management is aware of the need to develop better internal controls and is in the process of addressing this issue through an online contract administration system. Once the system is in place and operating, FAA Southern Region management will need to ensure that contracting officers are using the system to verify invoices. Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1838 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1721 On November 30, we initiated an audit to assist FHWA and five Gulf Coast states by identifying funds dedicated to congressionallydirected highway projects that are no longer needed. With congressional approval, these earmarked funds could be freed up and redeployed to reduce the cost of reconstruction in those states. Because states often need several years to develop a project before beginning construction, we will limit our audit to projects directed in legislation enacted on or before October 2000. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1721 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1681 We issued a management advisory to the Department recommending improvements in DOTs oversight of hurricane relief funds. The preliminary assessment of risk over the accounting, tracking and financial reporting of hurricane relief and recovery costs concluded that Operating Administrations (OAs) were instituting processes to comply with the Assistant Secretarys direction to track hurricanerelated costs. However, our assessment identified three areas where improved oversight is needed: (1) it appears that the Department may not have adequate controls over the funds used to support transportationrelated emergency response activities, creating the risk that violations of appropriations laws could occur. A lack of clarity regarding roles, responsibilities and authority within the Department may be contributing to the funds control problems; (2) with the exception of FAA, the OAs do not have procedures and controls in place to track all administrative costs (primarily salary, travel and supplies) related to hurricane relief. OAs are only attempting to track and account for overtime and travel costs they expect FEMA to reimburse, despite Department guidance calling for them to track all costs. OAs said they are not counting straight time worked by employees toward hurricane costs because the employees would have been working anyway; and,(3) the Department needs to develop a methodology to identify administrative costs incurred prior to September 23, when guidance require OAs to track all hurricanerelated costs were issued.We concluded that the Department needs to better understand the accounting process used for hurricane emergency response activities, institute effective funds control and determine whether any violations of appropriations law, including the AntiDeficiency Act, have occurred. The Department has agreed to followup promptly to ensure that the OAs properly implement the Assistant Secretarys direction. Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1681 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1686 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has created a Hurricane Katrina Hotline poster that may be printed and distributed. Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1686 http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1671 OIG has initiated oversight efforts of the Departments response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent recovery activities. OIGs hurricane relief and recovery oversight effort will include onsite reviews in the Gulf States and work with other Federal, state, and local agencies to: (1) verify that expenditures of Federal funds on transportation services and programs are being appropriately tracked; (2) proactively ensure that the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, the Maritime Administration and state transportation departments exercise adequate oversight of Department expenditures and put systems in place to make certain that funds are appropriately spent; (3) audit selected projects, grants, and contracts; (4) conduct fraud awareness and prevention activities to alert Federal, state, and local government agencies; and, (5) investigate allegations of fraud involving transportation infrastructure projects, to include presenting cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution and participating in resulting prosecutions. Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1671